


don’t mind me i’m just the teacher

by itscrybabyharrington (icanspelliero)



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Mutual Pining, Single Parent Billy Hargrove, Steve is clueless, Teacher AU, Teacher Steve, steve is an idiot
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-20
Updated: 2019-10-29
Packaged: 2020-12-27 03:30:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21111950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icanspelliero/pseuds/itscrybabyharrington
Summary: steve enjoys teaching almost as much as he enjoys spending time with his new students hot dad, billy hargrovesteve is cluelessbilly is persistentbecause every fandom deserves a teacher au





	1. i spotted a dad and the stars aligned

**Author's Note:**

> the rating will change eventually  
BIG thanks to gideongrace for the support
> 
> i am not a teacher

_‘I lunged out to grab the fruit from his hand, but with his other hand he caught hold of my wrist and squeezed it hard, as they do in movies, when one man forces another to let go of a knife.’_

Steve curls further into his chair, drawing his cardigan close despite the lingering heat of early fall drifting in through the open window. With one hand he carefully balances his book on one knee, the other stuffing the last bite of a strawberry jelly sandwich into his mouth. There’s a glob of jelly stuck to his chin a precarious smear of red on his thumb, threatening to stain the crisp pages of the book in his hand.

He barely lifts his nose from his book, glancing over the dark rim of his glasses to check the time displayed on the wall. He has exactly eleven minutes of peace and quiet left before the loud squeal of children floating through the open windows of his first floor classroom will soon come tumbling through the door, sweaty and eager for his attention. Steve licks his thumb and turns the page.

“Jesus Christ, Harrington, pull yourself together.”

Steve startles at the sudden appearance of another person standing in the open doorway of his classroom, arms flailing as he struggled to rebalance himself in his chair. He quickly shuts the book he’d been reading, sitting the blue cover face down on his cluttered desk, just missing the overripe half eaten banana beside it. “Principal Hopper!”

He makes a halfhearted attempt to brush the crumbs off his face, the jelly on his chin dropping down the front of his button up. It goes unnoticed. “How can I help you?”

Steve rarely has visitors during his free time at lunch, he’s friendly, he has actual friends who are teachers at this school, but he’d rather sit alone than risk suffering through whatever gossip is floating around the staff lounge.

Principal Hopper is a good man, he used to be the chief of police before he retired, somehow landing the position of principal at Hawkins Elementary School. Steve’s had one too many house parties crashed in his youth to not feel a sense of alarm every time Hopper steps foot into his classroom. “Or um, what’s up?”

“You’ve got a new student.” Hopper has one large hand placed on top of a pile of unruly curls. The kid in question who Steve had just noticed partly hidden behind Hoppers large frame, grins wide, missing a tooth. “Jaxton Hargrove.”

Steve smiles back, shoots Hopper a quizzical glance because he didn’t remember reading anything about having a new student added to his roster, let alone one showing up so late in the afternoon on their first day. Steve’s only dealt with a handful of students transferring to his class during his time as an elementary school teacher, no one really moves to Hawkins Indiana, nor moves out of Hawkins if he’s being honest.

It’s a small town, the type most country artists would probably love to sing about. Everyone knows everyone’s business, and then some. Steve grew up here, has lived here his entire life, and is starting to accept the fact he would most likely die here, alone, with his cat who undoubtedly wouldn’t hesitate to eat his cold dead corpse as soon as it hit the ground.

“Hello, Jaxton.” Steve leaned forward, elbows on his knees with an outstretched hand. “I’m Mr. Harrington, or you can call me Mr. Steve.” His smile is bright and professional, glasses slipping down the bridge of his nose.

“My daddy was having a _really_ tough time this morning but I’ll be on time tomorrow, he promised and my daddy always keeps his promises,” Jaxton explains while shaking Steve’s hand, serious expression on his face.

The kid has a dusting of freckles across his nose, pale blue eyes, and large ears jutting out from a mop of blond curls cut into one of those trendy mullhawks Steve saw on instagram all the time. “My name’s Jaxton Brice Hargrove.”

Steve does his best not to laugh at the amount of over sharing children never fail to spew out about their parents, he knows more about the residents of Hawkins than he could have ever asked for because of this job.

“Well it’s nice to meet you, Jaxton.” Steve stands, tucks the name away to be remembered and gestures towards one of the many activity stations he had set up in his classroom. “You can play if you’d like, I’m going to talk to Principal Hopper real fast and then you can help me bring everyone inside. How’s that sound?”

Steve presses his glasses back into place, watches as Jaxton’s eyes scanned over the colorful layout of his classroom. Steve’s quite proud of his room set up, he’s had the same classroom since he started here, invested his time and money into creating an environment the kids would feel encouraged to play in while also learning in the process.

Jaxton drops his backpack on the ground near his feet, school supplies spilling out the open top. “I can do that,” He replies, already running towards the jumbo lego station.

“His father will be by to pick him up at the end of the day, poor guy looked frazzled, running late for work I’m assuming. He didn’t have much time so I offered to walk Jaxton to class.”

Steve crossed his arms over his chest in unspoken judgment, finally turning his attention away from his new student, eyebrows raised at Principal Hopper.

Steve doesn’t have any children himself, that would require a love life, or even a sex life if he was willing to lower his standards, but he couldn’t imagine ever sending his kid off to their first day at a new school alone. It didn’t sit right with him.

“It’s fine, Hops. A bit of a surprise seeing as no one told me I’d be getting a new student but.” He shoots Hopper an accusatory look. “I’ll get him settled in after recess.”

“Yeah, sorry about that, it’s that damn new receptionist uh… what’s her name,” Hopper snaps his fingers, waves his hand around. “Tammy!”

“It’s Tina not Tammy.” Steve looks up at the clock on the wall and back towards the forgotten book on his desk. Ten minutes went by far too quickly, so much for getting lost in the cobblestones of Italy, he’d have to wait until tomorrow.

“Alright, Jaxton, let's go meet your new classmates.”

——-

The rest of class continues without any unexpected surprises.

Steve successfully rallies everyone in from recess with additional help from Jaxton, uses their designated quiet time to place him at an empty desk, pick out his cubbyhole, and introduce him to the twenty other students who make up Steve’s kindergarten class.

Collectively they learn that Jaxton is almost 6, lost his tooth while jumping off the couch last week, moved from California, and his dad works on cars. Specifically ‘_cool cars, like hot wheels and shit_’, and Steve quickly had to alert the blond that they didn’t allow swear words in school.

It’s not the best first day introduction but it’s good for how last minute things had been thrown together and Steve makes a mental note to pick up some hot wheel stickers on the way home so Jaxton can decorate his table tag. He needs to buy groceries anyway and this will finally give him the motivation to do something besides going straight home.

——-

Dismissal starts at exactly 2:40pm each day.

Steve has everyone packed and ready to head into their respective lines at exactly that time, checking and double checking, because the last thing he needs is to send one of his kids off onto the wrong bus.

The latchkey students head out first, Mrs. Robinson stops by every evening to collect the small group and lead them to the gym. Next are the students who take the bus, another teacher swings around to lead them out, and Steve makes sure to say goodbye to everyone individually.

Last but not least are the students whose parents pick them up, the most hectic group of all, and Steve is in charge of seeing them out daily. It’s worth the trade off of not having to regularly work outdoor recess, but it means he has to stand outside under the scrutiny of parents and teachers alike. He’s been teaching for three years now but it still makes him feel oddly exposed when he’s outside of his classroom and forced to talk to parents. Particularly when a few of them are people he went to highschool with, sweetheart couples who started having babies as soon as they crossed the graduation stage.

He’s not jealous or anything, Steve knows he has plenty of time to figure what he wants from life, to meet that special someone and settle down. He’s only 25 and he’s relatively attractive, he didn’t win Homecoming and Prom king based off his personality alone, especially back in high school when he was kind of an asshole. So Steve knows he’s a looker, he just hasn’t found anyone worth his time.

“She did great today, Mrs. Wilford!” Steve calls out, sending off his second to last student, waving enthusiastically at a hot pink Hello Kitty backpack as it disappears into the backseat of a hybrid.

Technically she’s late for pick up, Mrs.Wilford lived across town and Steve didn’t mind sitting and waiting a little longer than usual to make sure his kids got home safe.

“It’s just me and you, kiddo.” Steve notes, smiling down at Jaxton gently squeezing the five year olds hand.

Of course it’s Jaxton’s father who’s running late, a parent he’s never met before, and didn’t have any transportation information aside from what Hopper had mentioned after dropping him off during lunch earlier. It violated so many protocols, Steve tries not to think about it.

In place of letting himself be overcome by anxiety, Steve did what he does best and makes small talk. He tells Jaxton all about Hawkins, how the biggest playground in town is behind the library, and how sometimes if you’re really nice the ice cream shop down the road will give you free sprinkles if you ask. All while he kept a watchful eye on the other teachers starting to trickle out of the building.

Steve contemplates heading inside when the soft rumble of a car pulling up has Jaxton interrupting his thoughts with a joyous shout. “Daddy!”

Steve follows Jaxton’s line of sight towards the source of his excitement, gets taken aback by the vehicle that has Jaxton jumping up and grabbing his belongings.

“Well that hot wheels comment suddenly makes a lot more sense,” Steve says under his breath and to himself, eyeballing the vintage blue camaro that parks in the pick up lot.

“I’m so sorry, Jax!” A man who Steve assumes to be Jaxton’s father comes rushing out of the vehicle.

He’s younger than Steve would have guessed, short cropped curls that match Jaxton’s in color, and the same blue eyes, same smattering of freckles. Jaxton is clearly this man’s son, a cloned yet smaller version. The kid was going to grow up without a single problem in the looks department if his father was anything to go off of.

Steve tugs his cardigan closer to his chest, eyes the way the man’s muscles bulge against the dark cotton material of his shirt. It clings when he lifts Jaxton up in one fluid movement to carry the boy on his hip as if he weighs nothing; Steve can feel his cheeks pinking up.

“Mr. Hargrove, I’m assuming?” Steve inquires once he picks his jaw up off the ground to stop publicly drooling over one of his students' parents. His voice didn’t crack at all.

“You can call me, Billy.” Mr. Hargrove, _Billy_ smiles, perfect white teeth and a twinkle in his eye. “I’m sorry about today, traffic is surprisingly shit for such a small town and things went longer than I expected.” Billy holds out his hand, a streak of black going across the knuckles, Steve thinks it might be motor oil as he places his hand into Billy’s firm hold. “And you?”

“Steve, or um, Mr. Harrington. I’m Jaxton’s teacher actually so I’m sure you’ll be seeing more of me.” Steve laughs, cringeworthy and a little forced, wishing he hadn’t accidentally slept in his contacts the night before so he wasn’t stuck wearing his outdated glasses.

“Yeah…definitely.” Billy nods and slowly starts to back away, shifting Jaxton’s weight on his hip. “Anyway it was nice meeting you, Mr. Harrington. I’ll stop by early tomorrow for a proper introduction.” He gives one last wave before heading towards the car and putting Jaxton in what Steve hopes to be booster seat in the back.

Steve lets out a breath he didn’t know he was holding and stands outside until the car is entirely out of sight.

——

Steve arrives home well after 6pm, a careful balance of paper grocery bags weighing down his arms as he opened the door to his third floor apartment. A grey tabby cat weaves between his legs as soon as he crossed the threshold, tail curled around his ankles in an enervated attempt to either trip Steve and send him sprawling to the floor, or escape before he could get the door shut. Possibly both.

“Dude,” Steve huffed, barely getting the door closed behind himself without squashing the annoying little thing, keys dangling loosely from his hand.

He places them on the wall hook beside the door and shuffles into the adjacent kitchen, dropping the bags on the small island countertop that also doubles as a table. Steve clears away the few forgotten mugs to make space, dumping old tea and coffee into the sink before he starts to unpack, taking extra special care to leave out a booklet of hot wheel stickers to remember for tomorrow.

There’s not much to put away, mostly frozen microwave meals and fruit, deli meats and cheese he will use to pack a semi decent lunch instead of living off the contents of a half eaten jelly jar and rapidly browning bananas. Steve didn’t see the point, nor have the skill to make an actual meal outside of canned sauce and pasta noodles he never fails to overcook. Community College taught him a lot of things but culinary arts and basic cooking skill wasn’t one of them.

“Are you hungry, Mr.Tumnus?” Steve digs out a couple cans of cat food, setting one aside while storing the rest in the cupboard.

The grey cat flicks its tail in response, jumps from chair to countertop and rubs itself against Steve’s arm with a low purr. He scratches behind its ear. “Yeah I thought so, greedy cat,” Steve cooed, cracking open a can of wet food and leaving it on the counter.

Once things are put away Steve tosses a frozen dinner into the microwave and heads for his bedroom. Laundry baskets of clothes that originally started off as clean but have gotten mixed up during his failure to put them away sit near the foot of his bed. Steve digs through them, decides on an old t-shirt from his time spent on the basketball team back in high school, when he still did things like willingly participate in physical activity and a pair of shorts he has to smell test to see if they’re clean. It’s not until he’s unbuttoning his work shirt that he finds the very obvious red stain from earlier, letting out a groan, followed by an even louder one once he realizes he’d been running around like that since lunch and no one bothered to tell him. Not even his most loyal students!

His mind drifts back to Jaxton’s dad, Mr.Hargrove. _Billy_ like he had corrected, replaying their brief but awkward interaction over again in his head. No wonder Billy was so quick to back away from him, what grown man spills jelly on himself and leaves it there all day?

Steve finished changing and tries not to think about it any further, he’ll make a better impression tomorrow. Parents love him, he refused to be known only as The Jelly Stain Teacher.

Steve stops in the kitchen to pull his dinner out the microwave, burning himself on the cheese melted over the ledge of the container. “Shit shit shit!” he curses and grabs a can of beer from the fridge.

He plans to spend the rest of the evening vegging out on the couch, responding to a days worth of unanswered text messages and maybe watch a couple episodes of The Office before finally passing out.

It’s definitely not the lifestyle Steve thought he’d be living at twenty-five, alone with his cat, and too many dying plants littering his apartment; but he has his kids and his books, he has his neighbor Jonathan who stops by from time to time, and that’s all he really needs for the time being.


	2. another day another dad, that’s my tinder anthem

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> steve is pretty sure it’s a dad thing™️

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> a deeper peek into teacher steve’s life, a little more billy&steve interaction, PLUS ROBIN!!

Students start arriving around 8:30 every morning, Steve likes to get to school early, at least by 7, so he has enough time to settle in and get to the copy machine without waiting in line. It has a tendency to overheat, starts smearing ink around its pages midway through the school day, and despite the complains Hopper has yet to approve for them to get a new one. 

If Steve is extra early he’ll stop on the way to grab doughnuts and good coffee, not the off brand blends that people find half hidden in their cupboards and decide to bring in.

Today is not one of those days, most days aren’t.

Steve wakes up at 6am, accidentally lays in bed cuddled up with Mr.Tumnus until 6:15, and finally drags himself to the bathroom when his 6:30 alarm goes off. He brushes his teeth, attempts to fix his hair, and sends a silent prayer of gratitude to the creator of timed coffee machines. Steve pours himself a travel mug between searching the apartment for shoes and an acceptable cardigan to wear, packs himself a lunch, and stops last minute on his way out the door to grab the sticker book off the countertop.

He’s halfway to his car when he remembers he forgot to feed the cat, runs back inside the building accepting that he will in fact hit traffic, and early mornings never got any easier.

When he finally gets to his classroom Steve has 30 minutes before students start to arrive. It’s just enough time to head to the staff lounge. He’ll have to wave off Tammy Thompson’s persistent yet subtle advances because she’s always there at this time and always bringing up the fact that she’s single, and Steve’s still single, and how silly both those things are. Steve doesn’t find it particularly silly at all.

“Steve!” Tammy greets as soon as he walks into the staff lounge.

Thankfully there’s no line for the copy machine, sadly no one else is here to save him from predictable advances. “Tammy.”

Steve makes his way over to the copy machine, pulls a few papers out of an organized folder and gets started. He’s not trying to be rude, he’s turned Tammy down more times that he can count yet it’s still the hot gossip of the school. Even the old librarian is in on it, always mentions how sweet Miss. Thompson is whenever Steve brings his class in to check out books for library day.

She is sweet and bouncy natural curls and wide brown eyes, but they don’t have much in common outside of teaching, and she laughed at all his jokes, even the really bad ones, Steve’s told jokes even his students won’t laugh at and they’re all five.

“You’re running behind today, late night?” She feigns small talk, leaning against the wall beside the copy machine with a large mug of coffee in her hands. It smells amazing and Steve thinks back to the travel mug sitting in his desk waiting for him.

“Nope, just stayed in bed a little longer than I meant to.”

“Ohhh, enjoying some extra company then?” Tammy pries, blowing the steam from the top of her mug.

“Oh please, we all know Dingus here isn’t getting any from anybody in this town.” A voice cuts in from across the lounge.

Steve rolls his eyes but smiles, thankful for the intervention.

Robin Buckley is the music teacher and Steve’s favorite person in the entire building. She’s loud and she’s blunt, never puts up with Steve’s shit, and Steve wouldn’t hesitate to marry her if it wasn’t for the fact she was a raging lesbian. Somehow that made him love her more and they've been friends since she started at Hawkins Elementary last year.

“Since when is my personal life something people openly discuss?” Steve grabs his stack of papers, still warm from the printer and holds them against his chest to let the heat bleed through. It’s his favorite thing about having to use the printer so often.

“Since you insist on being a sad old cat lady.” Robin plucks the stack from Steve’s hands and loops her arm through his. “Let me walk you to class.”

Steve pretends not to notice the visible pout Tammy is sporting and doesn’t bother to say goodbye. She’ll find him again tomorrow morning.

“By the way, I'm not a sad old cat lady.” Steve unlocks the door to his classroom, bounding towards his dearly missed travel mug.

Robin sits on the edge of his desk, pulling open drawers in search of the candy stash that is saved for rewarding students good behavior. She pulls out a mini Twix bar and takes a bite. “Not yet.” Robin smirks around the chocolate bar, talks with her mouth full.

It’s repulsive, Steve’s chest kicks with deep fondness.

“But you’re well on your way, I saw you staring at kittens in the pet store window last week. You were basically fogging the glass.”

Steve goes around the classroom setting out worksheets for the students to get started on as they slowly trickle in. He gave them the option of silent reading or practicing their spelling, so no one was left just sitting around while they waited for everyone to arrive.

“I wasn’t fogging the glass, stalker. Don’t you have somewhere to be?” Steve chastised, grabbing the pencil bins out of their cubbies and setting one bin at each table.

It’s five minutes until 8:30, Robin is one of the teachers involved in directing drop off every morning. Steve nods at the clock on the wall.

“Oh shit!” Robin laughs as she slides off of Steve's desk, adjusting her fitted black dress pants. “This conversation isn’t over, Mr. Harrington!” She grins, backing out the classroom and running down the hallway, shoulder length blonde hair bouncing behind her.

——

Students start trickling in shortly after Robin leaves, Steve greets them at the door with a signature high five he gives to each passing student if they’re willing. Steve learned very quickly and early on his first year of teaching that not all five year olds were bursting with energy in the mornings. He could relate. 

Most students walk in alone, others are walked to class by their parents, getting their goodbye hugs in at the very last minute. Steve’s in the middle of making small talk with a parent when he spots a familiar mop of blond curls running down the hallway dragging a man twice his size behind him.

“Mr. Steve!” Jaxton rushes out, skidding to a stop centimeters away from crashing into Steve’s legs. “I told you I’d be on time today, my daddy always keeps his promise!” He’s out of breath, swigging his dad’s hand wildly. It further convinces Steve this is his favorite age to teach, when kids still wanted to be picked up, when mommy and daddy were still just that, but old enough to have developed a personality.

Mr. Hargrove looks only partly embarrassed as he pulls Jaxton in and ruffles his hair. “What did I tell you about interrupting people, kiddo, gotta wait until grown ups are done talking.”

“Oh, it’s fine.” Steve smiles.

“Yeah, it’s fine!” Jaxton mimics, flashing what Steve can only describe as a shit eating grin.

Mr. Hargrove, Billy, Steve reminds himself again, rolls his eyes and drags his hand down the front of Jaxton’s face.

Steve melts a little but only a little.

“Ignore him.” Billy shoves Jaxton forward through the threshold of the classroom, the five year old laughing his way to his cubbie. “I wanted to apologize again for yesterday, we moved here last week and we’re still living out of boxes for the time being so it’s been a little hectic at the house.”

Steve nods, hands shoved deep into the front of his pockets to keep from doing something cheesy like lean against the doorway. He’s met hot parents before, no one nearly as attractive as Billy, but this isn’t Steve’s first hot person interaction. He used to be real good at this whole keeping it cool thing. Girls would all but throw themselves at him in high school, and college, then after Steve’s short but panicked bisexual awaking, he'd pulled men just as easily. Not that he’s trying to pull Mr. Hargrove but Steve feels the need to make an impression, something comes forth inside him that makes Steve itch for Billy to like him.

“Don’t worry about it,” Steve says, splitting his attention between Billy and high fiving a student on their way in. “Maybe alert the office next time if you know you’re going to be late, I don’t mind waiting around after school or he can always hangout with the latchkey kids but it helps to know what’s going on.”

“I’ll remember that next time.” Billy crosses his arms over his chest.

Steve thinks he might be flexing, his eyes trace the light dusting of blond hairs that curve over the muscles in Billy’s arms and wrists. Men did that sometimes, puffed out their chests and stood their ground whenever Steve spoke about their kids. He’s pretty sure it’s a dad thing.

“And if there’s anything else you need from me just let me know, I’m sending Jaxton home with a couple forms I’ll need back from you before the weekend but aside from that he should be good to go.” Steve averts his gaze, ducks his head into his classroom for an easy distraction.

He’s rather proud at how quickly everyone has settled into the morning routine. Even Jaxton sat at his desk, tracing a worksheet of letters. 

“I’ll see you later this afternoon, Mr. Harrington.” Billy grins, tongue between teeth, turning on his heel as the bell for class rings.

Steve closes the door to his classroom and jumps right into his writing lesson. Perhaps Robin is on to something, he needs to get out more and stop lusting over parents.

——

Billy does in fact see Steve later that afternoon, and again the following morning, and so forth for the next two weeks. Steve does his best not to over analyze anything, so it goes without saying. He thinks about it a lot. It’s not unusual for parents to build in with their children’s teachers, Steve is basically a second father figure for most of the students in his class, so it makes sense that parents like to get a feel of who he is as a person. Usually that means brief but friendly greetings in the morning, and talking about their kids, that’s all parents want to do anyway.

Until Billy.

Billy who walked Jaxton to class every morning and stuck around until the bell rang alerting everyone that class was to begin, Billy who leaned, relaxed and at ease against the door frame while Steve greeted students, Billy who always said things like “Nice cardigan today, Mr. Harrington.” Making Steve flush bright red before closing the door to his classroom. 

After school it’s worse, Jaxton is the second to last to be picked up from Steve’s classroom. Billy slides out the Camaro, strolls to where Steve is waiting on the steps, and Jaxton just knows by now, doesn’t even bother rushing to get up because Billy starts conversation, asks about his day, asks if he has plans later, or sometimes he’ll ask Steve for suggestions on what to do around town, all while looking unbelievably hot in his navy blue mechanic jumpsuit, always unzipped to show the white tank top underneath and and the gold necklace he's always wearing around his neck.

It’s friendly and nicer than the usual conversations he has with parents, Billy is rather funny underneath that rough demeanor, and Steve finds himself actually looking forward to talking with Billy after school, even if he curses too much in front of the children. It becomes part of the routine, Steve will chat with Billy until Mrs. Wilford arrives to pick up her daughter, Anna, and Billy leaves before she does, loading an impatient Jaxton into the car and pulling off far too quickly in a school zone.

Today is no different, Jaxton sits on the step next to Anna, both students giggling over a kindergartner’s idea of a joke while Steve stands, hands waving wildly while he explains why the 7/11 on the outskirts of town is significantly better than the one located only a few blocks away.

“It’s about the fizz, no one wants a flat watered down slushie,” Steve goes on. “Sure it's a longer drive but it’s always worth it, plus the 7/11 around the corner is worse than McDonalds and their ice cream machines.”

“You don’t say,” Billy grins, hands tucked into the front pockets of his work uniform. “I should take you with me next time I’m in the mood for a slushie, since you’re clearly the expert.”

Steve laughs. “I do love slushies but I’m no expert, I don’t think I'd have much to offer you at the 7/11.”

“I can think of a few things you could offer me,” Billy starts. Steve quirks an eyebrow, mouth parted. “Starting with your num-.”

The sound of Mrs. Wilford’s van cuts him off.

Billy had made a comment earlier that week about one of the tires needing more air because it squealed loudly whenever she turned even the slightest corner these days.

“Stevie!” an undeniably masculine voice boomed once it came to a stop, a distinctive contrast to the light airy tone of Mrs. Wilford.

“Mr. Wilford.” Steve smiles familiar and friendly, already turning to help Anna with her bag. “It’s been awhile, I was starting to miss you at pick up.”

Normally Billy would be heading out by now, saying his goodbyes and lead Jaxton to the car. The five year old is ready to go, reaching for Billy’s hand though the taller blond remains unmoving. Instead he’s staring, arms crossed, brows furrow, the start of a frown tugging at the corner of his lips.

“Can’t let Shelly have all the fun.” Mr. Wilford winks and Billy visibly straightens up beside him, holding his hand out in a forced introduction.

“Billy Hargrove.” 

Steve genuinely has no idea what’s going on, staring between the two men and noticing the sudden tension that has clouded around them. He chuckles, awkward, giving Billy the side eye for his sudden change in demeanor that's making him appear larger, filling up the space despite Billy being shorter than the both of them. 

“John Wilford," John responds. He shakes Billy’s hand then winces and pulls his hand back.

“Jaxton is Billy’s son,” Steve interjects, clasping his hands together loud enough to snap both men out of whatever unspoken grievance is between them. Dads were competitive guardians in general. Aunts, uncles, they all got a little weird.

“Jaxton has class with Anna, they’re new in town...actually,” Steve turns his attention towards Billy. “You two should set up a playdate or something, you could use a friend in town.” Steve smiles, placing his hand on Billy’s elbow.

Billy grunts, frown deepening.

“I have enough friends.”

Steve is… speechless, mouth agape as he tries to string together a response, tries to wrap his brain around how Billy could be so rude when he was so charming just moments before John approached them.

“That’s alright.” John laughs and waves Billy off. “Maybe some other time, there’s new bar around here I’ve been meaning to check out.” He turns his attention towards Steve, seemingly unbothered by the flat out rejection Billy sent his way. 

“Actually if you’re free this weekend, Shelley is taking this one out of town for a girls trip if you wanted to get drinks,” John offers, looks hopeful.

Billy looks pissed. He lets out a low scoff that has both adults and children looking at him.

“Maybe,” Steve replies slowly, hands coming from his pockets to help Anna adjust the straps of her backpack. “Text me and I’ll let you know.”

“Great!” John smiles.

Billy grunts again. “Come on, Jaxton." He hefts the boy up and carries him to the car without so much as his usual friendly goodbye.

Jaxon waves out the window and Steve stands confused until he’s pulled from his thoughts by the sound of Mr.Wilford’s voice once against attempting to solidify plans for the weekend.

Steve has nothing against John, though getting drinks with one of his students' parents is a line Steve rarely, if ever crosses. It’s a small town, he’s run into parents after one too many Long Islands before. None of them have held his drunken state against him but going out for drinks with one is an entirely different situation.

“I’ll let you know,” Steve repeats, giving John a gentle smile.

**Author's Note:**

> i saw a teacher steve prompt floating around tumblr for awhile and thought, I NEED THAT. so this is purely self indulgent. there will be more billy don’t worry.
> 
> will try my best to update weekly! be patient and leave lots of love until the next chapter ✌️💕
> 
> also this is my first chapter works so bear with me!
> 
> bonus points if you can guess what book steve is reading without googling it 😂


End file.
